R1 Visa for Canadian Anglican Priest to work in Boise, Idaho

[John Jutzy]

My parents are board members of an Anglican church in Boise, Idaho. They are very interested in hiring a priest from Canada. They need some help with steps necessary to get the priest, and his wife who is a Registered Nurse, through the immigration process. Both are residents of Canada, and the wife would like to continue to work as an RN if at all possible.

Priest's background information for consideration:
Birthdate January 6th, 1951
M.A. in Religious Education from Lancaster University and St. Martins College, Lancaster, England.] - 1987

I am a qualified secondary school teacher licensed with the Province of Nova Scotia with a B.A. in Sociology and a B.Ed in secondary eduction from Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia 1975. I am also an ordained Anglican priest with an M.Div. from the Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax, Nova Scotia 1982. I was made Deacon for the Diocese of Nova Scotia in 1982 and priested for the same diocese in 1983. I also have a certificate in cartographic draughting from the Nova Scotia Land Survey Institute 1972 where I was privileged to study under Walter Morrison one time chief cartographer for the National Geographic Society in Washington DC, and I have courses towards a diploma for technician Agricultural engineering from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College 1971. I am a licensed administrator for the Myers Briggs Type Indicator MBTI 1987. I have a Canadian Boating safety certificate and Canadian Firearms Licence [which I bothered to acquire by taking the course because I had inherited a hunting rife from my grandfather years ago] I hold the G***ell Wood Badge with Boy Scouts of Canada for both Pack and Troop 1974 and further hold the third bead G***ell in the train-the-trainer certificate.
My maternal grandparents, formally of Cambridge, Massachusetts were naturalised citizens of the United States.


Priest's Wife's background information:
May 10th, 1953
Registered Nurse (RN) and has served from coast to coast across the country in various areas of service and for the last twelve years or with seniors in nursing homes: She is a Certified Eden Alternative Associate, a wonderful holistic, resident centred nursing home philosophy out of the USA now represented across the globe. she is also a artist who trained at Camosun College for Art, Victoria, British Columbia and paints figurative works in mixed media.



Anyone have any input, including what forms will need to be filled out and costs involved in the process?

[Lana Jutzy]

Joining this thread

I am John's mother and the one that he posted this subject matter for. Will be watching for comments. We are especially interested in the cost of this immigration process for the Priest and his wife to come to the USA.

[Bayfield]

R2 Dependent does not include work authorisation so she would need to find her own way. TN?

Biggest expense is legal fees and obviously that varies significantly.

[John Jutzy]

Diy

R2 Dependent does not include work authorisation so she would need to find her own way. TN?

Biggest expense is legal fees and obviously that varies significantly.

Bayfield, thank you for the quick response.

Wondering if anyone can tell me what forms they would need to get the priest here?

I figured his wife might be more difficult to figure out when I read the sticky.

I also forgot to mention that this church is very small, about 30 members. They don't have much for legal fees. I came here over a year ago to ask for help regarding the immigration of my wife and daughter and was able to handle the entire process without consulting an attorney. Both now have their green cards. I'm hoping to navigate the immigration process for the priest in a similar manner.

[Bayfield]

Family Immigration is one thing, Work Visa's another.

Most family immigration can be done by yourself unless there are particular issues.

R visas are subject to particular scrutiny, they were certainly the category most subject to fraud.

Seems odd to me that a 30 member church would look to bring someone in from abroad, my initial thought is if you can afford to pay him why can you not afford the legal costs?

[Lana Jutzy]

We may well be able to handle the fees, we are seeking to find what they would be. Does anyone have a range figure that you could post here for me.

[John Jutzy]

Costs

As stated, it is not that they cannot afford it, they are not certain how to handle the immigration process and wondering what forms the priest would have to file and what the church would have to provide in support of his documentation. Hiring an immigration attorney can be very costly, and I thought we could check here first to see if they could manage this without an attorney.

I used this forum to help me through the process when I moved back to the United States with my Chilean wife and step-daughter. I thought I'd ask here because people were so helpful during that process. A friend of mine married an American woman and immigrated here from Chile. He paid over $10,000. I am just trying to figure out if this is something that could be managed without incurring such costs for the church.

Thank you, Bayfield, for your assistance.